My name is Marco van Hylckama Vlieg. I'm a a web developer working for Yahoo! Europe. Further down this page you'll find more information on what my skillset consist of.

So what? Another braindead weblog...

This site is my 'home' on the web. These days such a site isn't anything terribly exciting anymore since just about everyone who can operate a computer has one of them, preferrably with horrible color schemes, huge blinking animated gifs and loads of links to other 'interesting' resources. A weblog... yet another 'innovative' application. Not really. I guess any visitor of this site will have enough reasons to immediately close the window or enter a more exciting sounding URL in the adress bar. Thank God the internet is a relatively free area so you're hereby dismissed if you feel you've already had enough. Thank you for visiting my humble pages...

What? You're still reading!

Since you haven't left the site I assume you're at least slightly interested in who I am and/or what this site is all about. I'm 34 years old and I'm a professional developer of internet applications and mobile applications. While my specialties lie in back-end web development I'm also quite capable of developing front-ends and designs. In fact lately my focus has been shifting a lot more towards the front-end again. After all that's how it all started on the world wide web: flat webpages with no interaction other than clicking a blue underlined phrase on a grey page...

What I do

I'm working as a senior internet developer using the following techniques:

• Programming: PHP5, Javascript & AJAX/ DHTML, bash scripting, Flash ActionScript, XSL
• Markup: XHTML, XML, CSS, iHTML, WML, cHTML, XHTML/Mobile
• OS: Linux, FreeBSD, MacOS X, Windows XP (yuck)
• Hardware: MacBook Pro, FreeBSD server systems, Nikon D70 DSLR camera for photography
• Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth and UMTS/3G mobile datacommunication

My activities 'in the field' are currently the following:

• Working as web developer for Yahoo! Europe in London
• Doing freelance design or development work

What I like

I guess I could be considered a cyber anarchist. I like standards, but they better be open. The W3C is a great institute indeed. I believe software and knowledge should be free and available for everyone. It's not about the software, it's about what you do with it. I consider Open Source the way of the 21st century. However the way towards a true Open Source revolution doesn't lie in words or agressive anti-monopolist propaganda but in something much more simple: quality. Millions of satisfied users can't be wrong...

The purpose of this site

I built this site because I wanted to have a place on the web where I can write about just about anything I feel like. You will find links to matters I consider interesting on the web and occasionally some scribbling about techniques which I think are nice to share some thoughts about with whoever might be interested. Even in the event of no one at all reading these it would still be valuable for me as a way to streamline my thoughts on a specific matter. The other subject of this site is a personal thing. If I feel like writing about anything non-technical I will use it as a broadcast platform to free my thoughts. You will be able to find some pieces of the puzzle named Marco... if you look hard enough that is.

Where did you get that pic in the header?

I got it from The Stock Exchange

Who did those mugshots?

The (in my humble opinion) very cool mugshots were taken by Marcel Kampman. Thanks a lot Marcel!

Can I rip your design or content?

You might or might not like the design of my website. I myself do. A ridiculous amount of time has gone into making this site into what it is right now and I'm really proud of the result. Therefore the answer to this question is: no!!! I have created two freely available Pivot Templates (find them on this site or on Pivotstyles) for anyone to enjoy but this template is mine. If I find you ripping anything from here I'll hunt you down, bad-mouth you in postings and submit your site to pirated-sites.com, the hall of shame of the internet. If you want me to design something for you there's always the possibility of sending me an email and who knows we'll work something out.

The content in my postings are a different story. They are licenced under the Creative Commons license. which means you can copy or rewrite my texts for NON-COMMERCIAL USE as long as you give me proper credit. If you scrape my site and put my content on a stinking spam page I'll hunt you down, publically ridicule you and sue the hell out of you. You have been warned!

So what's this thing about the net being dead?

It took me a while but I finally wrote the infamous article on why I think the Net is dead. So go ahead and read it!

Technology used in this site

This site was built with a lot of cool stuff I didn't do all by myself. Here's some things that power 'The Net is Dead'. Thank you very much to the creators of these great tools and libraries.

• code: PHP
• CMS: Pivot
• behavioral layer: prototype.js
• effects: script.aculo.us
• archive explorer: Backbase
• everything: blood, sweat, tears and hot black coffee

If you've really read all of this: Thank you for your attention, happy reading...

Marco (Honk if you've been a NCSA Mosaic user!)

Disclaimer

All opinions expressed on this site are strictly my own and not of my employer or any of my previous employers.